THE family of Robert Hytch, the man convicted and acquitted of the suspected murder of Bowen girl Rachel Antonio, has denied they lied to police to protect their brother and son.

A coronial inquest into the teenager’s disappearance yesterday heard from Mr Hytch’s sister Colleen Aberson, who agreed there was a Hytch family rule that someone was to be with her brothers when Rachel was around.

But she said she could not recall Rachel ever visiting her family home and described her as a “surf lifesaving colleague”.

Mrs Aberson pointed the finger toward former Bowen pool lessee Sidney Pate when asked what she thought had happened to Rachel.

“To this day, I believe he (Pate) did it,” she said.

But when the Antonio family’s barrister Bronwyn Hartigan asked Mrs Aberson if she still thought that Rachel had run away, she replied, “Yes”.

Mrs Aberson described Rachel as a mixed-up girl because “she would come out with funny comments like ‘life’s not worth living’ and ‘no one likes me’,” but said in hindsight that the comments were not unusual for a teenage girl.

She said Rachel flirted with older men, but could not recall any incidents to support the claim.

Mrs Aberson confirmed she had heard rumours of a relationship between Rachel and her brother Robert, who was almost 10 years Rachel’s senior.

She agreed she had approached her father and told him of the rumours, but could not recall saying, “I think Rachel is trying to do a line for Robert and I think Robert is falling for it”.

Mr Hytch’s brother Scott said he could not recall rumours about a relationship between the two.

He said he remembered Rachel visiting his family home “maybe twice”, but denied ever walking in to the bedroom and finding his brother naked with Rachel.

He also denied ever asking Rachel out or dating her for several months.

Mr Hytch’s father Paul said he did not know Rachel and could not recall speaking with his children about the relationship rumours.

He confirmed Cheryl Antonio called their home on April 26, 1998, to advise Rachel was missing.

Rachel went missing on Anzac Day in 1998 after her mother dropped her near Queens Beach in Bowen, where she said she was going to see a movie.

Mrs Aberson said she heard Hytch’s car leave the family home on the evening Rachel disappeared, and recalled her brother returning with grease on his hands.

Mr Hytch has previously claimed his car broke down after a party at the family home to get ice and a video.

Mrs Hartigan asked Mrs Aberson to explain the discrepancies in her statements to police and the crime commission.

“You told police you didn’t see Robert’s shorts ... you told the crime commission you saw grease on his shorts,” Ms Hartigan said.

Mrs Aberson refused to answer the question, but Coroner David O’Connell compelled her to answer.

She agreed her statement to the crime commission was at odds with her statement to police.

Mr Hytch, who sometimes drove his brother’s car, could not recall it ever “conking out”.

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